This invention relates to methods of fastening seating to the floor of vehicles, and in particular to systems for allowing the seating to slide for adjustment or removal.
Seats in minibuses may be fastened to the floor of a vehicle by many methods. The most common method is simply to bolt the seats directly to the floor of the vehicle. However, in many vehicles, this is not a sufficiently strong method to retain the seat in place in the event of an accident. Furthermore, in order to give vehicles increased flexibility in their load carrying configuration or capability, it may be desirable for the seats to be movable. It is then possible to adjust the spacing between seats, or to remove seats in order to allow more space for cargo such as luggage. Unless a different method of seat anchorage is used, new holes have to be drilled for the new seat positions. process.
Known automobile seats are adjustable for legroom by means of sliding mechanisms which permit the seat body to be moved longitudinally with respect to anchorage points for the seat. Only a limited amount of motion is possible.
In order to allow a greater degree of seat position variation, and in certain circumstances removal of seats, there has been tried a method which involves engaging seats with recessed channels in a vehicle so that the seats may be slid along the tracks and then fixed in position in the configuration desired by tightening of the bolts. Typically attachment is by means of bolts which act between ends of the seat legs and the channel. The bolts must each be loosened when it is desired to move the seats. This is a very fiddly and time consuming process, especially since the seats have a tendency to jam if they become even slightly skewed with respect to the channels as they are slid forward. Attempts to facilitate sliding forwards of the seats have foundered because of safety concerns arising from possible concertinaing of seats during a collision of the vehicle carrying the seats.